Oral (throat) infections

Symptoms

Gonorrhea, and occasionally chlamydia, can also infect the back of the throat, but not inside the mouth. These infections rarely cause throat symptoms, so you may not realize you are infected.

How you get it

You can get gonorrhea or chlamydia in the back of the throat by performing oral sex on an infected penis. It is almost impossible to get infected by deep kissing, oral-vaginal sex or rimming.

Testing

Your doctor will take a sample from your penis using a thin cotton swab. If you go to an STI clinic, the doctor will look at the sample under a microscope in order to tell whether you have an infection. A microscopic exam is the only way to detect trichomonas. The sample will then be sent to a lab for testing. Try not to urinate for two hours before getting tested, since you might wash away the organism causing the infection. Make sure your doctor takes a swab test before treating you, since it is important to know the exact cause of your infection.

Treatment and follow up

Oral gonorrhea is treated with Ceftriaxone, chlamydia with doxycycline. You need two follow-up tests because these throat infections are more difficult to test for, and harder to treat. Men on whom you have performed oral sex should get treated too.